Before The Game
by ellayyennayy
Summary: Before you get 'Back In The Game' with Terry Gannon, you should know more about her and her history as Detective Juliet O'Hara.


**No rights reserved. If I owned any part of the show I wouldn't be writing here, would I?

Reviews are highly encouraged. If the response is good enough, I'll post the rest.

* * *

Gus glanced around the empty building, warily. "I don't like this, Shawn. I don't like this at all."

Shawn rolled his eyes as he picked the lock, Gus didn't like much of anything about their investigative process. He turned and smirked at his partner as he swung the office door inwards. Gus brushed past him, annoyed. After a cursory glance around the room, Shawn could already see they were in the wrong place. Before he could say anything to Gus, there were two loud cracks. Gus looked at Shawn, panicked, and bolted out of the room. "I'm out, Shawn!" He shouted as he ran. Shawn turned and watched his friend run, shaking his head, then turned to do a last once over of the room.

A movement out the far window caught his eye; there was a man glaring in at him. He noted the scar under his left eye, the flickering blonde highlights through his auburn hair, the two day stubble across his chin and the holes in his ears from previous piercings. He also noted the custom made Smith & Wesson handgun as the man pointed it straight at his head. He leapt to the other side of the room just as the bullet bust through the window and splintered into the wall directly behind the space his head occupied mere moments ago.

As Shawn stood up, the man pointed the gun at his head again. He watched the bullet fly through the whole in the glass and come for the bridge of his nose. A movement in his peripheral distracted him enough so he didn't feel the jarring tackle or three of his ribs bruise as Head Detective Carlton Lassiter body slammed him to the ground. "Spencer, stay down!" He shouted as he discharged his weapon four times towards the strange man outside. Shawn glanced up in time to see the man's cream colored coat flapping as he ran towards a white Fleetwood Cadillac.

Shawn cringed when the doctor pressed on his ribs. "Does this hurt, Mr. Spencer?" He scoffed at the doctor and opened his mouth to give a snarky comment, but before he could make a sound the door swung open. "Daddy! Are you okay?" Austin Spencer ran to Shawn's side and snatched up his hand, clinging to it. "Hey, little man, yeah daddy's fine." Shawn knew he wasn't for long, though, based on the look on Juliet's face as she walked through the door. "What the-" Juliet glanced down at Austin and lowered her voice. "What the _hell_, Shawn." Shawn looked at her; he hadn't lied to her since their breakup so long ago. "I was looking for evidence, but" he paused "I found something else." He chuckled; his only way of dealing was always to make jokes. "Shawn, what are you going to tell the police?" Juliet's face portrayed the battle inside her over whether she should be angry or worried first. Shawn cupped her face with his free hand. "I'll tell them whatever comes to mind."

"Spencer!" Lassiter bust through the hospital room door, much like the seven year old Austin had; Lassie, however, did not look as happy. "What the hell were you doing there, Spencer!?" Juliet and Shawn both shot Lassie a look, discreetly nodding towards Austin. Carlton leaned down and ruffled Austin's dirty blond hair. "Sorry, kid." He stood up and faced Shawn once again and, in a lower voice, repeated his question. "What the hell were you doing in that office building, Spencer?" Shawn glanced at Juliet, who looked worried. "Gus and I were following that thug." Lassiter glared at Shawn. "Why were you following them too?" Shawn perked up at this news. "Obviously I knew something was up, Lassie. Psych, remember?" Shawn pointed to his temple as he spoke. Carlton rolled his eyes and turned. "Oh, come _on_, Spencer!"

Shawn looked down at Austin and noticed the arguing was making him uncomfortable. He took his hand, rubbed his nose over it, then handed it to Juliet and nodded towards the door. Austin looked up at him sadly, about to protest, but Juliet gently pulled him to the door. Shawn eventually convinced Lassiter that he was trailing the same thug and they discussed the crimes the guy had committed. Shawn learned the thug's name was Demitri Rubikov, the son of the biggest mob boss in Santa Barbara. Lassiter told Shawn that he'd been following Rubikov for weeks and suspected him of being responsible for their latest murder. Shawn remembered the girl he saw Rubikov shoot and told Lassie about it. Lassie left for the police department to inform the chief of the new developments while Shawn, Juliet, and Austin went home.


End file.
